Brigham Young Establishes Mormon Homeland in Salt Lake City, Utah
After 17 months of travel searching for a new home for his persecuted people, Brigham Young found Utah’s Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847 and proclaimed, “This is the place” (as pictured on this stamp).
The Church of Christ (later known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was founded in 1830 when Joseph Smith published his Book of Mormon. The religion grew fast in his New York community and spread to Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. However, it included controversial practices, including polygamy, that made its followers targets of mob violence.
Following Smith’s death, Brigham Young became the church’s new leader and vowed to find a new home for all his fellow Mormons, in “a place on this earth that nobody else wants.” He led a convoy of more than 10,000 followers and set up camp in Iowa. Young then took a smaller detachment of 148 people across the Rocky Mountains. As soon as he reached Utah’s Great Salt Lake Valley, he knew it was his people’s future home. Young and his followers immediately began building the town, and by 1869 it was home to some 80,000 Mormons.
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There are a few things that are in error on the ‘Utah Centennial Stamp.’
1. The ‘Church’ was never called the Church of Christ. It was always called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as it is today.
2. John Smith is incorrect. The restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints was by JOSEPH SMITH the Prophet.
3. The Book of Mormon was not Joseph Smith’s book. It was translated by Joseph
Smith through Revelation. The Book of Mormon is a second witness of Jesus
Christ, and a companion to the Bible.
The name has been corrected. Thanks.
In your article about Brigham Young, it wasn’t John Smith but Joseph Smith that Brigham Young replaced as the leader of the Mormon religion.
The name has been corrected. Thanks.
It was Joseph Smith, not John Smith.
Oops! We’ve corrected Smith’s name in the article, thanks for pointing this out.